For an electromagnetic contactor that carries out switching of a current path, a movable contact is driven by an exciting coil and movable plunger of an electromagnet unit. That is, when the exciting coil is in a non-excited state, the movable plunger is urged by a return spring, and the movable contact is in a released condition wherein the movable contact is distanced from a pair of fixed contacts disposed maintaining a predetermined interval. From the released condition, the movable plunger can be moved against the return spring by exciting the exciting coil, and the movable contact contacts the pair of fixed contacts and becomes an engaged condition (for example, refer to PTL 1).
The heretofore known example described in PTL 1 is such that a pair of fixed contacts and a movable contact are disposed in a hermetic receptacle formed of a heat-resistant material such as a ceramic with one face opened in box-form. Also, in order to extinguish an arc generated between the fixed contacts and movable contact when changing from an engaged condition to a released condition, a permanent magnet and magnetic means formed of a magnetic member sandwiching the permanent magnet are attached to the outer surface of the hermetic receptacle so that the magnetic member sandwiches the fixed contacts and movable contact. A magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of operation of the movable contact is provided by the magnetic means to a space in which the fixed contacts and movable contact exist.